HEALY — The new student broadcast program is off to a great start, as students at Tri-Valley School are now live-streaming the school’s basketball games and commenting on them after each game.
Kesslin Tench, District Technology Manager, said: “I have had this vision, or something like it, for many years. I knew.”
There has been a demand for something like this for a long time, she said. Some fans wanted automatically moving cameras strategically placed throughout the gym. It wasn’t affordable, Tench said.
I also didn’t want to spend money on technology that didn’t involve student learning.
“I don’t put technology resources into something that doesn’t align with the school’s mission,” she said. “And that’s where I’ve been going for years.”
That all changed in October, when high school government classes invited candidates for state and federal office to Tri-Valley School to live stream candidate forums. Guests included notable candidates such as Sarah Palin, Kelly Tshibaka and other politicians.
“For some reason they gave me a week’s notice,” she said. She soon realized that she couldn’t do it without the help of her students. The students enthusiastically participated and helped live stream the forums over the two nights. It worked well and reached viewers inside and outside of the Denali Borough.
With the support of Principal Tove Gurley, the student broadcast program quickly snowballed.
Tench’s son Riley, a Tri-Valley alumnus who now works as a technology specialist on a cruise ship, was home on vacation.
“I just started brainstorming,” she said. “He set up the tech. He donated a computer he built himself in high school. He loaded the program and we did a proof of concept at a basketball practice before he left. We played another game during the week.”
He continued to mentor students after leaving the state.
Meanwhile, the school’s booster club has pledged to help pay for additional equipment, Tench said. The new student-led live streaming will be used at school events such as Spelling His Bee and Graduation.
“We let the kids drive down the road,” Tench said. “It’s very exciting.”
Other adults, including teachers, help guide the children who comment during the livestream.
“We watch basketball games on ESPN and use that as an example,” Tench said. “This is what we’re aiming for. After that, the kids critique their own work.”
“Coach reports to get the kids to that point,” she added. “It forces them to reflect on their process so they can achieve more and keep improving.”
Riley Tench also introduced a technique that allows students to use their old iPhones as Wi-Fi devices.
“So you can place a complete wireless camera anywhere in the building,” she said. “It’s wirelessly connected to our computer over our network, and it’s just feeding a live camera feed into the software we have. That’s how it mixes different camera angles of her.” am.”
She hopes the live streaming service will eventually include commercials. This is a way to solicit program funding from local businesses.
Most of the 9-10 students currently in the program are in grades 7 and 8, and some are in high school.
Once confident, the students began interacting with the audience who made comments in the chat box of the live stream. It used to be a viewer who corrected the pronunciation of names. Another occasion was to point out that her two members of the visiting team were twins.
Live-streaming students shared all the new information with their online audience.
“There have been many lessons,” said Tench.
There’s already talk of making the unit mobile, perhaps in an attempt to live stream soccer matches.
“It’s going to be a whole different challenge,” said Tench. “Also, we eventually want to go out. Perhaps we want to put the computer into a Pelican case so that it can be carried.”
Perhaps student broadcasts will even evolve into credit classes instead of volunteer efforts. “We’re creating something that could actually turn into a career for kids,” Tench said.
Tri-Valley students who have participated in the program so far include Rita Jacobs, Montana Lucas, Cole Lucas, Faith Madge, Quincy Yoos, Isaiah Mayo, Jean Haugen, Kate Rebel, Isabel Brown, and more with each event. of students are participating.